UN commends Sri Lanka on human rights

October 10th, 2009 NEW YORK - Governments in countries with caste systems should respond to the call from a top UN official to end caste discrimination, Human Rights Watch, the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights as well as the International Dalit Solidarity Network have said. The organisations urged governments in South Asia and other regions to cooperate with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, who has issued a strong call to end caste discrimination.

September 21st, 2009 Rights groups: UN must name special envoy for IranNEW YORK — Human rights groups urged the United Nations on Monday to appoint a special envoy to investigate continuing abuses in Iran following the disputed presidential elections there. "The United Nations should use President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the U.N.

September 21st, 2009 Rights groups want UN Iran envoyNEW YORK — Human rights groups are urging the United Nations to appoint a special envoy to investigate continuing abuses in Iran following the disputed presidential elections there. Human Rights Watch and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran say that at least 72 people have died in the crackdown that followed opposition protests against the ballot, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won re-election.

September 17th, 2009 UN expert: Sri Lanka video needs impartial probeGENEVA — A U.N. rights expert called Thursday for an "independent and impartial investigation" into a video that purports to show Sri Lankan troops killing naked, blindfolded men during the recently ended civil war.

September 15th, 2009 LONDON - Exports of Sri Lankan clothes and sportswear to Europe face being banned over allegations of human rights abuses, a diplomat from the country confirmed Tuesday. Although the European Union has asked the Sri Lankan government to respond to the allegations of human rights abuses during the civil war this year, a London-based Sri Lankan diplomat said, Their minds seem to be made up".

September 14th, 2009 US wants credible, effective UN rights councilGENEVA — The United States attended its first formal meeting of the U.N. Human Rights Council on Monday, saying it will try to promote dialogue at a body it once avoided and heavily criticized.

August 18th, 2009 Rights group urges Sri Lanka to open flooded campsCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A human rights group on Tuesday urged Sri Lanka to release hundreds of thousands of war refugees from camps hit by flooding over the weekend saying their lives were in danger from disease. The floods have renewed fears that disease could break out among minority Tamils who have been living for months behind barbed wire, in tents and in makeshift shelters, while the military hunts down the last of the Tamil Tiger rebels it defeated in May.

July 25th, 2009 IMF approves $2.6 billion loan to Sri LankaCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The International Monetary Fund has given final approval for a $2.6 billion loan for Sri Lanka despite calls from human rights groups that the island nation should first address concerns over its human rights record. Some $322.2 million of the loan will be immediately available to Sri Lanka.

July 23rd, 2009 Rights group urges Sri Lanka aid rethinkCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lanka's government should be forced to rectify serious human rights abuses before it receives an emergency loan from the International Monetary Fund, a human rights group said Thursday. The IMF has given initial approval for a $2.5 billion loan to help Sri Lanka with reconstruction after the end of its 25-year civil war with ethnic Tamil rebels.

June 15th, 2009 YANGON - Myanmar and Sri Lanka strengthened diplomatic relations over the weekend with the signing of two agreements that eased visa restrictions and pledged cooperation in the tourism sector, media reports said Monday. The two agreements were signed Sunday when Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid a state visit to Myanmar's new capital of Naypyitaw at the invitation of junta chief Senior General Than Shwe, The New Light of Myanmar, a government mouthpiece, reported.

June 11th, 2009 Amnesty says Sri Lanka fails to probe abusesCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka — The Sri Lankan government has never seriously investigated human rights abuses allegedly committed during 25 years of civil war and needs to rapidly overhaul its justice system to bring peace to the country, Amnesty International said Thursday. The London-based rights group said the problem was even more urgent in the wake of the government's defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels last month in a bloody offensive that left more than 7,000 civilians dead, according to the United Nations.

June 4th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With the Tamil Tigers decimated, India Thursday pledged to support initiatives aimed at finding a permanent political solution in Sri Lanka to ensure equal rights to the Tamil minority. "We will support initiatives in Sri Lanka which can lead to a permanent political solution of the conflict there, and ensure that all Sri Lankan communities, especially the Tamils, feel secure and enjoy equal rights so that they can lead a life of dignity and self-respect," President Pratibha Patil told a joint session of the Indian parliament.

May 21st, 2009 COLOMBO - Children are reportedly being abducted from refugee camps in Sri Lanka, apparently with the tacit approval of the Rajapaksa government, human rights groups have claimed. The Telegraph quoted The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers as saying that it had received verified reports of child abductions from camps in the main resettlement area of Vavuniya, often by paramilitary Tamil groups.

May 19th, 2009 GENEVA - The UN Human Rights Council will hold a special session on the situation in Sri Lanka next week, after finally gathering enough signatures of member states. 'The Human Rights Council cannot be silent when innocent civilians are caught up in armed conflicts,' the council's President Martin Ihoeghian Uhomoibhi said in a statement.

April 30th, 2009 NEW DELHI - With a view to help civilians displaced from their homes due to the ongoing war in Sri Lanka, India on Thursday handed over a consignment of 40,000 individually packed family sets of humanitarian relief material to the island nation. India's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Alok Prasad personally handed over the relief material to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is distributing the relief material in the no-fire zone.